Ah, Spring

Gorgeous, gorgeous weather, warm temps, light breezes and crocuses blooming:

But, there is a downside to spring for someone in our household....

Mandy is mad at us....

She desperately needed a bath and yesterday was so nice and warm, so she got one.  We even filled up buckets with WARM water, instead of using the hose (except to rinse her belly).  Now, I think that's pretty considerate of us.   I was soaked, my shoes were soaked, Paul was soaked, so it wasn't all fun and games for us either. But no, still getting the cold shoulder.

But now she is nice and soft and fluffy and smells nice.  I'm sure she'll forgive us soon.

Since it was such a beautiful weekend, Paul and I took the opportunity to take a drive.  Just around.  Nowhere special, as long as we ended up at a Target to run an errand.  We also ended up here:

Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park.  Mmmmmmmm...... bar-b-q.

And to Guptill's Coney Express for our first ice cream of the season:

Sorry, too excited to remember to take a picture of the actual ice cream.  It was yummy.

In Gardening News....
Not much news, since it's still too early to do much, but I just ordered these from Amazon:

I'm very excited to have a garden this year!

In Knitting News....
I've been crazy busy this week teaching knitting classes.  Thursday was the first Daybreak session, Friday was the first Car Seat Blanket Session, Saturday was the first 2-Socks-on-1-Needle session and the first Baby Kimono session, and Sunday was the first Sycamore Vest session.  Whew.  I was a little wiped out Sunday afternoon (at which time we decided to tackle the aforementioned bath....).

So for knitting I've been sticking to the Skew socks:

A little less complicated than getting into the Cranberry Capelet which I hope to work on this week.  Yes, they are crooked.  They are supposed to be, hence the name "Skew".

I also started the Swirl Hat which The Spinning Room is doing for a charity knit-a-long:.

Yes, that's my new favorite way to take a picture of my yarn...

These hats will be donated to a local hospital's child and adult cancer centers.  The pattern is nice and easy so it's nice to have that to knit while I watch tv.

In Book News:
I'm reading First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, Book 1) by Darynda Jones  (kindle version:First Grave on the Right) on a sort-of recommendation from a knitting friend.  She actually recommended the next book, Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson, Book 2) (kindle version: Second Grave on the Left )  but I didn't remember the name correctly when I went to get it.  I didn't mind, though, because sometimes I get a little finicky about reading a book series and I would have wanted to start from the beginning anyway.  At any rate, so far I'm liking it and I will give you more details when I'm done (soon).

Also book related, Paul went on a business trip and I convinced him to take my Nook with him so he could read The Hunger Games (kindle version: The Hunger Games).  It actually did take some convincing because Paul is not really a gadget guy.  First, he sort of wrinkled his nose because I think he was resisting the idea of using a gadget since he thinks there are too many in the world (and he thinks I have all of them, which I don't.  I have a couple.  There are way more people who have way more gadgets than me.), and he didn't want anyone to think he was one of those gadgety people.  Then he was all, "I don't know how it works."  And I was all, "I'll SHOW you."  At that point he was really out of arguments.  So I showed him and he read on the plane.   He couldn't put it down either!!!!  Then, he started reading the second one and is in the middle of that.  We both can't wait to see the movie.